Kernel milkline (starch deposition) should drive the time to start harvesting corn silage, not plant dry matter. For some, this statement may be puzzling, as in the past using plant dry matter was a key tool for harvest timing.

Although some dairy herds do have excellent reproductive performance, the average Canadian herd is still showing unsatisfactory performance with an insemination rate of 44.1 percent, pregnancy rate of 17.6 percent and conception rate of 40.5 percent; those performances were shown to be similar in other countries.

What’s the most important part of your mineral program? It may not be the brand or the formulation – but rather how you manage it. The perfect mineral supplement probably does not exist, albeit the benefit of a good mineral program is well established, even if not fully understood.

The old adage “you are what you eat” has never been more relevant than when talking about beef cattle. In order to produce the finest and most highly prized cattle, cattlemen must feed the highest-quality silage with an exact nutritional profile.

Running the dairy operation at Tibben Farms in Brinston, Ontario, is Ralph Tibben and his two sons, Mike and Mark. Mike manages the dairy herd while Mark does all of the cropping. Ralph does “a little bit of everything,” Mike says.